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This one is the best one yet! You're really using shadow effectively here to bring out the depth. My only criticism would be that I'd be more spare with the dots--it looks like he's got freckles, and that's probably unintended. I like the way you've used them in some of the earlier ones, just here and there, not so much a stipple pattern but just "hello, I'm a surface or a plane over here". I think it's a good technique, but if you can be spare and strategic with it, it's going to be more elegant and simple.

I think Eclipse made his costume more Black Hawk-like for the revival in the 80s, as usual, ruining all the fun.

Thanks Jed! I didn't know Eclipse did a Sky Wolf comic!

beautiful illustrations Eric!
and I love your new banner too :)

Thanks so much Giulia! I really appreciate your input, especially when I'm trying new things.

I know I haven't been posting much, but I've been busting my balls on this 13 page wordless comic that has been one of the most difficult things I've ever drawn. It's a superhero comic! Something I've never attempted before. The reason I don't post it page by page is because I keep changing stuff. One more page to go, and then I'll post the whole tomato!

OOps. meabt as a response to the last post!

This one doesn't seem quite as successful as some of the previous ones, but I like your technique in general, those little spots of black that take the place of crosshatching to indicate not so much texture as surface.

I didn't realize Airboy had an ornithopter. I LOVE ornithopters! As impractical as they are elegant, I'd like to see an Airboy-sized one, one day.

Geek alert:

From what I understand Dan Berry went on to do the Flash Gordon newspaper strip after Russ Manning left it. And of course (of course, right? Who doesnt know this?) Biro went on to do Crime Does not Pay.

Thanks Jed!(on the run at the library...)

That would be Dan Barry, right? He was the one on Flash Gordon in the late 50s. I didn't know Russ Manning did Flash. I know him only from Tarzan strips and early Star Wars.

Yeesh, this is getting beyond my expertise,ob, which are very, very limited...

I wasn't aware of this character, but clearly he is awesome. Fabrikoic Micro Iron indeed.

But this drawing is totally weak.

Just kidding! Just kidding! I like it. Once again, I'm digging the high contrast spot blacks. And if you squint his head kind of looks like the top of the capitol building! (But only when you squint)

LOL! Way to make me feel totally crushed for a nanosecond! This is the strangest character I came across, but one of the most charming too. And Jed, I'm dying to see more of your work on your blog (hint, hint)

:)

Thanks Mobu!

beautiful piece, he's a good subject. if you draw him again you should work in those roses.

also, you reminded me of this piece

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/57/163666249_ca76f63934.jpg

I didn't know Fujitani worked for Hillman. That's funny because I assumed you wouldn't know about Fujitani when I gave you that MLJ link, so it's cool you know about him.

I love Fujitani's style back then before his stuff got really straight in the 60s when he was doing stuff like Solar Man of the Atom. It would be interesting to see how he handled a war comic since his MLJ stuff looks so odd and sinister, more Graham Ingels than Joe Kubert.

I wonder what it must've been like for a cartoonist who was half-Japanese during wartime? I don't remember if Fujitani did the same kinds of stereotypical depictions of the Japanese in his WWII era stuff.

Here's his Lambiek listing:

http://lambiek.net/artists/f/fujitani_bob.htm

There's also a nice Flying Dutchman page if you scroll down.

Did you ever get a chance to check out those MLJ links?

I like the image, I like that you're relying less on cross-hatching but it would be nice to see you do some full figures rather than just portraits. A portrait doesn't really do a character like this justice.

Thanks Shane! Love that painting! Is that Pyle or Wyeth?

Thanks Jed! Sorry I haven't gotten back to you about those links! There's a lot of info there and I wanted to take my time on it.
This period in history is so interesting!
Um..You may want to skip this week, it's all portraits!

Nothing against your portraits, just would like to see you stretch a little. You have a kind of formula for faces--so do I, it's a handy thing, especially when cartooning or doing a crowd--but figures are more of a challenge. Also you're doing superheroes. That's all about the costume. Since this whole exercise is to--I assume--work on your chops, I'd like to see you step out of your safe formula.

On a related note: I always liked Ogden Whitney's Sky-man. That might be a good character to try.

Thanks Jed. I really have to disagreement with your assessment of my work. Please keep in mind these are taken from my sketchbook, if you'd like to see my finished work it is available on Amazon or book stores.

You may have misunderstood me. I don't believe your work is formulaic, I just meant that most illustrators and cartoonists do have a kind of style in which they draw faces. I said "formula" but I didn't mean that in a negative way. No more than Maurice Sendak has a formula for drawing faces, or Mike Mignola, or many many others. It's part of your vocabulary as a storyteller.

If you're going to draw a character and you want that character to look the same from page to page, relying strictly on photo reference is probably not the best way to go. You need to use your imagination. Most of us, when doing so, access a kind of vocabulary of symbols that we tend to use when we draw. I have a kind of method that i use to draw noses. You have a method to drawing eyes. Lately I've been doing the dots for eyes thing, and if that's not a symbol I don't know what is.

When cartoonists rely on too much photo reference in their work--and I'm talking cartoonists and not illustrators, people who make comics and picture books principally--it tends to look stiff and I don't think it flows particularly well. It's harder to identify with the characters as cyphers. I think you use a good mix of both reference and symbols.

So in these portraits, all I'm saying s that you're approaching them from a confident place. I think there are artists who specialize in this kind of thing and do it well and with novelty and variety. Renee French is one. But she has her way of drawing eyes, of drawing noses, you can call it a formula or a vocabulary of symbols or whatever you like.

So, as graceless as I may have presented the idea, all I was suggesting was that you try something different in these sketches. But that doesn't mean that they'll be better drawings, or that in doing these portraits you're not doing interesting work. I just thought it would be fun to see you do these characters as full figures, but the way I presented the suggestion was as if there were something lacking in your work, and that was not very helpful.

Please don't worry about it Jed! What I was trying to say is that these are fast sketches done for fun and shouldn't be taken too seriously. I wasn't offended but I wanted to be clear on these sketches.

I understand your point now.

Sweet sketch! I may actually have a couple of Air Fighter Comics in my collection. I was heavy into WW II comics as a youngster...

Thanks Bruce! A lot of my father's brothers fought in World War Two and I grew up with those stories so these characters have a deep resonance with me now.

Yeah, I hear ya. My one grandpa flew in a B-17 and was based in Italy (I actually got a chance to see one of the places that he bombed) and my other grandpa was a model maker for the warplane manufacturers and between the two of them there were/are a ton of great stories. So, I had that same resonance and still do. I always wanted to put those stories into pictures somehow.

Totally sweet !

Thanks Scott!